U.S. intelligence and the Pentagon have begun assembling preliminary information about potential targets and militant personnel in Libya that could be struck if President Barack Obama ordered such action.

A senior U.S. official, who declined to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the information, confirmed details to CNN, noting the United States would likely seek cooperation from Libya before launching any military strike.

Some of the details were first reported by the New York Times.

The stepped up effort is in response to the September 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

U.S. intelligence has said it believes the attack was "a deliberate and organized terrorist assault carried out by extremists" affiliated or sympathetic with al Qaeda.

CNN reported previously that U.S. drones have been collecting intelligence in eastern Libya for weeks, and that American intelligence agencies are eavesdropping and intercepting suspected insurgent communications.

The official offered repeated caution about the effort. While he acknowledged that "options are being teed up," he said "don't think that a final list of who was involved is solid."

He said any early list of targets or personnel is part of standard target planning and is "highly pre-decisional," noting that the president would have to decide whether to launch a strike.

The official repeatedly noted the standard job of the intelligence community and the military is to prepare options for the president if he asks for them, which he has not.

The current effort involves assembling so-called "target packages." A target package includes the intelligence matched to a specific site earmarked for a potential strike.

It also includes intelligence justifying a potential strike against any enemy personnel being targeted and a specific calculation on how civilian casualties would be avoided.

Nothing from CNN on Benghazi-gate? An American Ambassador was raped and killed on September 11, and CNN says nothing? The White House lies and CNN says nothing? CNN calls itself the American Press and says nothing? When the fourth estate abdicates it role, I fear for us all. When the press abdicates it's responsibility all is lost. Worse I suspect they know that and are comfortable with it. CNN has an agenda that is not consistent with being a free press, it is a press dependent on the powers that be so licking the genitalia of the powers that be. CNN do you really like this?

All the years under the evil tyranical Ghadafi and none of our Ambassadors gets murdered. We support an overthrow and assination and boom, our embassy and our Ambassador is destroyed. We push our views of democracy onto countries weak and vulnerable to radical fundamentalism and end up opening the floodgates for a new breed of infiltrators that go in like a poison and spread like a fungus. We need to just back off of our rabid idealism that our system is going to succeed in other countries. Look at Mali for God's sake. A simple coup and wham, gone is the democratic ways they tried to incorporate.

The Aghori or Aghouri is a Hindu cult that is considered to have split off from the Kapalika order in the fourteenth century AD. They have cannibalistic rituals. The streets of northern Indian cities are littered with followers of this cult carrying a kapala, which is a cup made from a skull! These bizarre people will eat anything from rotten food to animal faeces. In order to achieve the highest citadel of enlightenment, the Aghori will perform horrendously crude rituals. The finality of their rituals is attained from eating the decaying flesh of a human.

I feel sorry for my neighbours south to us...to see how a government that has spent trillions of dollars in wars is going at it again. Not only is the US still in Afghanistan (where they are CLEARLY not wanted), but this political game is at its citizen's expense! There are millions still jobless in the US while the government continues to "help" countries in the middle east instead of helping its people at home! YOU ARE NOT WANTED IN THE MIDDLE EAST! WHY ARE YOU STILL THERE?? were you invited? do you think once all the troops are out "peace and democracy" will rule?? NO....you will continue spending the people's money to fight someone else's war. And once you are finally finished there, the Afghanis will go back to their old ways. If I were Afghanistan 9or any other country), I would not want anyone helping/invading my country either. I think whether it's Romney or Obama this year...nothing will change. Good luck to you all.

What a stupid statement, not that i'm suprised coming from a Canuck... I don't know if you remember, because you were probably more interested in watching Hockey... but Terrorists based in Afghanistan attacked our country and killed thousands of our People... We're still in Afghanistan because we want to try and create a Government in that society that will maintain order and prevent Afghanistan from becoming a haven for terrorists after we leave. I guess stupid Canucks can't understand that, apparently unless your buildings are bombed it's kind of hard to understand... not that i would expect a Canuck to have the capacity to try and understand us....

Clinton – they dont want you there, and once you leave, they will go back to their old ways. They will hate you more now than they did before for invading their country. Let me know how well your government's plan works out in the end...after more trillions and more innocent lives are lost for "the US' own interests". What would you do if a superpower invaded your country in order to "fix your problems"? yeah....you would hate them too. The US is only creating more tension between the middle east and the west. Do you really think Al Qaeda or any terrorist organization end because you invaded their country? let me know how that works out for you....i'll be watching hockey...

October 3, 2012 at 3:58 pm |

I wipe my @ss with Old Glory

We have no business in Afghanistan. They don't want us there. They never asked. We are an invasive foreign presence that does nothing whatsoever to improve their society and culture, and we spend vast sums of money to do it. And sorry, Canada, but there'll likely be no hockey this year.

October 3, 2012 at 5:47 pm |

abba

ah here we go again, US gonna bombard another place just because they feel like it. wow im so proud.

So next is Libya, Iran. Thank you Israel.
What is next after that? Turkey, Saudia, Jordan, Egypt ?
Please tell us so that don't keep putting money in vary meagre retirement plan that I have. To stop paying Social Security is not a choice but I can stop saving elsewhere. It's no use if whole our economies are going to get bust in a few years. I might as well spend a little more now and enjoy than save at all for future.

Yo', but ... but Israel is our "only ally in MidEast" and "Israel is the only democracy in MidEast" and ... and they are the most advanced nation and .. and Israel is the most peaceful nation ... and .. and..

If you go by the screen name I wipe my@ss with old glory you should nt say that they are our enemies because your screen name puts forth the idea that you dont care about our country.Im guesssing that you are american by your post.If your are I suspect you never servrd in the military or any type of armed forces or you are some punk college student who has nothing better to do but sit at your computer and try t start some kind of conversation with someone to get your satifaction that you are getting their blood going .Sorry to say that does work on me. I very seldom post anything on this page, just your screen name rubs me the wrong as it does to alot of other people on here.So in closing i would just like to say get alife and find yourself a girlfried or boyfriend what ever you prefer im guessing the latter if you have that much time on your hands to post the negative stuff that do between studying and class and biting some pillow because your boyfriend is taking chargeat night Have a nice day!!!!!!!!!!!!

$16 Trillion in debt, where is the money going to come from for this?? Why should WE THE PEOPLE continue to pay the extortion (taxes) to a failed corrupt lying government that will help everyone but it's own people but expect WE THE PEOPLE to pay for other countries. It is time to stop paying into this "EVIL" American government ! The American government is the Axis of "EVIL" on the planet today. And with luck it will soon fall back into the hands of the people, that is IF WE THE PEOPLE stand together and STOP paying into EVIL !!!!

We didnt create anything in that country .We help a nation get out from under a terrorist.That guy cared for nothing but his himself and family.He came in to power and was removed by power with a little help from the U.S, and a few other nations. Please be a little more in formed be for you post

I I don't think that the Libyan people ever had any hunger crisis or dearth they only cried for freedom. It is sarcastic and paradox to see a government in Somalia and Sudan having killed their own people for decades, oppressed this people put the people in dearth for decades and these government were never booted out. What a sick world.The Sudan government and Somalia government were 1000 times worst than Gaddafi. Gaddafi was evil sure..but he gave his people to eat.

October 3, 2012 at 9:50 am |

I wipe my @ss with Old Glory

It is you, Robert, who lacks information about Libya.

October 3, 2012 at 11:01 am |

Stevelb1

You do realize Gaddafi was an enemy of the US. Reagan tried to knock him off by bombing his house in the 80's and oh yeah, he was responsible for bombing Pan Am 103 killing a plane full of Americans over Lockerby Scotland. It's Conservatives like you that make me sick.

Actually I support the GOP and would love to see a response to this tragedy. The only thing political in this whole situation has been the consistent lies by the Obama administration as to what really transpired in the attacks on our embassy. Try reading another news source besides CNN, they have downplayed this story tremendously.

Why nuke a nation of people over a few bad apples? If that were the case, we should first nuke ourselves, considering America has 46 times more people, thus a larger number of bad apples. We'll let you push the button, then hang you in town square for war crimes. Fool

Why blame the U.S. for a movie made by one bad apple? OH wait right the double standard doesnt apply here....smh

October 3, 2012 at 9:07 am |

asdfasdf

1. These countries have been run by authoritarian governments for a long time, where people know that the government must sanction everything.
2. There's already a long held belief that the US is anti Islam
3. They hold their religion very seriously unlike most American Christians who are Christian by name but really are not practicing Christians so they take attacks personally
4. Vast majority have been only protesting, not attacking, which is a right and freedom that this country claims to support

To all foreign readers of comments/posts on news article such as this, please rest assured that the bizarre/uninformed/offensive cmments do not represent a significant portion of the US population, just a small crazy group that are inclined to post such outrageous material on websites ....I would hate to have anyone judging our country or population based on many of these comments.

Wait, what?
Didn't we want to liberate these people a few months ago? Now we want to bomb them?
And THOUSANDS are dying in Syria and we sit on our hands?
Another reason why Oblama shouldn't get re-elected

Another (of many) resons Obama should not be elected. This guy is destroying America from the inside out. I think he should resign and go back to being "a community organizer"

October 3, 2012 at 7:47 am |

US Dollars

Meldy,

grab a gun. Go over to Syria if you feel so strongly about it. Get your kids guns too. Send your friends over there. No sitting on your hands, it's totally in your control.

Oh I see you want OTHER people's families sent to a war zone.

Can just shut up? You make all of us American's look like idiots when you babble like this.

October 3, 2012 at 8:01 am |

Jo

Who is the "we" you are talking about. Have you served in our military? Have your children Served? No? then who is the We you are talking about. It seem's you are sitting on your hands right now? What a you doing about it? Other than blogging on CNN? 28 years I have spent in conflicts all over this planet, I will be spending my last 2 at my local recruiting office. Like the other guy said it's ok for you "WE" to watch as other families send their children over here to sacrifice but you aren't doing a danm thing so continue to post about something you know nothing about except what you get from the news/
Master Sergeant Jo
5th Special Forces
Currently Deployed

October 6, 2012 at 7:48 am |

KWhy

Why do they like to broadcast combat info now? I liked it better when the media didnt have the authority to publish combat operations untill the are complete.

These sort of missions are not military objectives, they are political objectives. If there was no publicity about the operation there would be no political gain.

Anyway the story is a bit misleading, the mission in Benghazi was opened to gather intelligence and the closure after Ambassador Stevens was killed has severely effected the ability of the US to obtain intelligence.

ooooooooooooo "julian" is upset!...........ooooooooooo Hyperbole reigns in Julians house this am: "mostly civilians".........ooooooooooo mostly Julians buddies, sounds like............. go get 'em boys!! ..........pulling on Superman's cape is not a good idea!!

only a stupid liberal would think it can be avoided. you should try to get an education about Islam. Actually you should get an education about all three abrahamic religions. jewdaism' cristianity, Islam. they are all The evil GOD made in the image of man...by man.

October 3, 2012 at 6:53 am |

fiftyfive55

@darren-send your son or daughter to fight and die there if thats how you feel ,oh and uh , I dont care about any of those mideast countries,I only care about my homeland "long live America "

October 3, 2012 at 7:01 am |

fiftyfive55

Our government,or is it munitions suppliers,want another mideast war but qwhen does OUR government listen to us ???
We,THE AMERICAN PEOPLE,do not want another war in the mideast !!! We are fed up with the mideast and all their whining and murder.What does the mideast do for us except take our money and our soldiers lives,WHAT ???

man im getting feed up with these usa and british dogs soon i will reduce all there countrys to nuclear dust. shut up or i will shut all you down i will nuke a irish kindergarten also its high sesone for me.

saeed is not really a saeed. false flag commenting. Ive seen their other posts, many of which include a reply by someone called something along the lines of saeedisdumb only saying hahahahahaha, pretty much right after saeed's comment. happened too many times to be a coincidence that they were there at the same time and same place.

HA HA HA HA ,your pretty funny when you said "reliable intel". We just spent 12 years in the mideast based on reliable intel which was all made up to begin with now you say we should trust the military intelligence after the fiasco in Iraq ?
Go back to your booze and stop trying to justify troop deaths.

US system try to keep its face.....As they know for sure...that bombing a single site in Libya will destroy all its interests in all region in one day......................Stop silly propaganda....As you will suffer a lot...If people in Arab worlds already hate america as enough as you can't imagine...
Pressing Arabs to withdraw their 3.0 Trillions $ in US banks Will make the required money to printed 4.0 Trillions not one ...And for sure will make the green papers in less value than toilet papers...
Just to change all Money of the national stocks of area countries to EURO will damage your Wall Strret in one Hour....
So >>>>>>>>>>>>>> It's just the propaganda of keeping face....no more...

We are wanting to hit potential sites that have miltia groups that are a threat... meaning they may not even be the ones who attacked our embassy but others that are planning attacks, like we do in Pakistan and other places. We cannot send men on the ground less its in our embassy so we can only strike a large group that has lot of guns who knows even tanks and we want them destroyed then its going to be a missile or a 2.5 ton bomb. Libya is paying us back from what we have spent on their country making it "free". Its smart we don't have to use men on the ground just cia and informants to get targets. It should have been done this way in Iraq. We want Libya bec of the position of the country, wealth, and contracts, and such. We are doing what we did to communism but now its extremism. We figure we turn as many countries into a democracy the better chance we have...

And how did we make Libya free,it,s idiots like you,who are complicit in our garbage propaganda about freedom,Libya is a complete mess because of our greed for oil,we had to help our fellow thieves in Europe to get that Libyan oil at cheap prices.

Dear Jhosh,
Libya is definitely free now, and a large part is thanks to the U.S.
We are far better off now, although many things need to be ironed out.
We are having the revolution you guys had two hundred years ago, and I think it took some time
Before things normalized.
Libya needs to be encouraged, wish us well.

October 3, 2012 at 5:45 am |

US Dollars

Of course we wish Libya well, but the murder of our ambassador and 3 others must be addressed. A full account of the murders and list of people involved are a start.

Nobody is suggesting that we are targeting free Libya, but we will target the muslim fanatics that need to be sent to the devil.

Let's get to it.

October 3, 2012 at 7:52 am |

Jo

One day in North Waziristan
Within a convoy was this van
That carried in its tattered frame
A dangerous and wanted man.

They quickly to Miran Shah came,
But up there in the blue sky tame
A drone surveyed their speedy trek
And locked on them a lethal aim.

A Hellfire fell to the deck
And followed fast the laser’s speck-
As relay tubes kept steady zoom,
Anticipating massive wreck.

… and then a flash, and then ka-boom!
Then smoke and flesh and utter gloom
Had left a crater twelve feet deep,
And put that bomb maker to sleep.

F*****g priceless. What utter crap. This has got to be the "work" of a young male, probably virginal and homely to boot. Please tell me you're not an adult. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I say if we have crediable evidence we should strike, then we should leave Lybia, no aid, no arms, no doctors, no clergy. I feel no moral imperiative to offer help to the middle east, if that sounds racist then I don't care and I do not appologize for it. If Washington does not spend my tax dollars there I will be better off in the log run.

Dear Kent,
First I would like to say that as a Libyan I appreciate the U.S.'s help in helping us get rid of a monster.
However I would like to ask that you need not be so negative and I want you to know that Libya could be a partner to the U.S. not a drag. With mutually beneficial economic exchanges and not merely a recipient of help.
After all Libya has an abundance of resources.
Give us a chance.

You do not know what you are asking for. High cholesterol, stress, water bills, electric bills, mortgage, car payments, the central bank made you a partner when they created the bank in Benghazi. welcome to our world. partner. As a sheep you want to complain about THAT shepherd. wait till you meet the new one.

Barak Obama lied to us all big time and this is going to screw his chance of winning the election. Those American lives that were lost in Bengazi could have been prevented but out idiotic president chose not too. In my opinion this is far worse than Mitt's 47% remark. Shame on you Obama!!! I'm always a democrat but guess what....judging base on Obama's economy and foreign policy, he is not getting my vote!

I'm no fan of Obama, but this isn't going to hurt his chances unless the media wants it to. And the media wants him back. Why do you think the F&F failure is downplayed? Why do you think ALL of Obama's failures are downplayed. The media would have called Bush a warmonger for using limited force in Libya. But since it's Obama, they just report it and move on.

I think the murders at the Libyan embassy was a set up and I think Obama, Hilary, and Rice participated in a cover up. I think they wanted the ambassador dead. I have contacted my Representative and Senators twice for an investigation.

There's no doubt that it was a cover up by Obama administration, I'm just getting fed up with lie after lie by our president.

October 3, 2012 at 12:18 am |

I wipe my @ss with Old Glory

I wouldn't doubt it. If the state could stage 9/11, anything's possible.

October 3, 2012 at 12:37 am |

dewed

"If the state could stage 9/11, anything's possible"

The "state" can't stage anything without everyone knowing all the sordid details in advance. Somehow, you people just can't accept the fact that a handfull of loonies could somehow take over a few aircraft and steer them into buildings. No no, it must be a conspiracy! GTFO, your type is being shamed more and more each day.

October 3, 2012 at 12:53 am |

sherman

Karen – not that much cover. They didn't know before hand that he was going to die. They knew at some level that the ambassador was trying to negotiate weapons back into the hands of the US or Libyan government from ... not Al Q. Think – who would be more of an embarrassment than Al Q? The fact that the MAJORITY of the Libyan people never wanted Gadaffi to go. Don;t call your senators, put a green sticker on your car. –

October 3, 2012 at 7:30 am |

MIke

If you get hold of him, try not to waste all their time with your nutty conspiracy theories.

October 3, 2012 at 8:01 am |

KW

Anyone who still thinks that 9/11 was a conspiracy is a retard. Popular mechanics has repeatedly proven all those conspiracy theories to be false.

I think anyone that says Hilary and Obama didn't know about the situation getting out of control before it happened is a moron. It's time to hold to people accountable who are in charge. If the people in charge are not held accountable then we all fail, because they are our leaders! Would you follow someone blindly off a cliff?

Nobody wants to take responsibility for their actions. It's easy to blame someone else for your failures, but that doesn't make it right and it doesn't make anything better! Everyone needs to take responsibility for their actions and then, only then will things turn around in this world!

October 3, 2012 at 1:33 am |

Clark1v

The state dept and the president knew that security needed to be greater at all consulates and embassies for the past 30 years ... Why wasn't it at Benghazi?

October 3, 2012 at 1:44 am |

p_anaya75

They did know.. that's the problem. They are made aware of everything. There was a source 3 days in advance (Sept.8th)notified the State and said the source was non credible so they dismissed it. When the building was being attacked they were notified.. Nothing no security. We have technology and defense: why the people pay for the Air Force and fighter jets or live satelite systems... Ok the possibility of a plot for a commercial airline takeover maaaybe plauseable, the possibility of an inside job also plausable; but for them to NOT know this was going down for sure NOT possible.. Security has been so increased u cannot text, post or even call (any and all communication services) are watched today by including key terms to initiate the bugging process.. I am sure someone such as the marine had a phone when the extremists were outside the building. We may not have rescued the building but we possibly could have saved the safe house. The entire attack was a matter of hours and not minutes..where was the president? I am sure he was notified by someone what was going down and just like what his buddy Dems are good at doing the "In charge personnel are going to be questioned" and someone is going to pass the blame and it will eventually land in the President's lap. So I will just say it now... "I told U So"

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CNN's Security Clearance examines national and global security, terrorism and intelligence, as well as the economic, military, political and diplomatic effects of it around the globe, with contributions from CNN's national security team in Washington and CNN journalists around the world.